10 Actors Who Confirmed They Were Almost Batman

5. Eion Bailey - Batman Begins

Eion Bailey Band of Brothers
HBO

Christian Bale was the lucky chap who ended up playing Batman in Christopher Nolan's epic Dark Knight trilogy, but he didn't secure the role without enduring a bit of friendly competition. In fact, at the same time that Nolan was screen-testing Bale, he was also doing the same with other actors.

One of these was Eion Bailey, who most people will recognise from his role in 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. Bailey came surprisingly close to landing the part, and got so far into the casting process that he actually got to wear the cape and cowl while auditioning for the filmmakers.

Footage from this audition even made its way online, and upon watching Bailey's performance, it's clear that he wasn't the man for the job. His Bruce Wayne was decent but his Batman was quite underwhelming, and it's hard to picture him pulling off Bale's fierce take on the character.

Still, Bailey has a claim to fame that few will ever achieve: he got to wear an official Batsuit. Can't really complain about that.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!